Yemeni government forces launched attacks on Houthi rebel positions across multiple fronts just hours after the group resumed shelling the city of Marib, raising concerns that a multi-year period of relative quiet could give way to a larger conflict.
A military spokesman said Saturday's strikes targeted the Houthis' "capabilities and forces" along "several axes and lines of contact," describing the campaign as necessary to "protect unarmed civilians."
The military operation followed Houthi missile and drone attacks on the provinces of Hadramout and Marib on Thursday that killed at least 30 government soldiers and wounded 15 others.
Deputy Information Minister Mohammed Gezan said on Saturday that the Houthis had "resumed shelling residential neighborhoods in Marib city with missiles and drones."
The renewed shelling of Marib — a city now hosting more than 2 million of Yemen's nearly 5 million displaced people — came after a Friday attack killed two civilians and wounded 14 others, according to Yemen's Health Ministry.
The Houthis said they targeted an army barracks on the city's outskirts, while Yemen's military said it repelled a separate attack on Friday evening without casualties.
Fears of a return to full-scale conflict
Al Jazeera's Yousef Mawry, reporting from Sanaa, said this marks the first time in months that government forces have declared a counteroffensive, framed as a response to the Houthis' shift toward preemptive strikes on military positions in Marib and Hadramout.
The Houthis, according to Mawry, say they are acting on suspicions that government forces are coordinating with Saudi Arabia to launch a larger campaign against Houthi-controlled areas.
Elisabeth Kendall, a Middle East expert and principal of Girton College at the University of Cambridge, said the escalation carries a "realistic possibility" of pushing Yemen back into full-scale conflict.
"Yemen's civil war has in reality never truly ended," she told Al Jazeera, noting that the 2022 truce has expired.
Kendall pointed to recent troop movements and clashes as signs that "every warning light is flashing," although she suggested government forces are now more unified than in previous years — a shift that could favor the government if Saudi Arabia intervenes decisively.
The United Nations has called for de-escalation, condemning both the Houthis' missile attacks and the group's continued strikes on oil tankers in the Red Sea.
